Esteban Ocon: "'It's a mistake that doesn't normally happen to me" after his crash in qualifying
Esteban Ocon had a frustrating Saturday on the Sakhir circuit. The Haas driver saw his hopes of a good qualifying session dashed in the first part of the session, after a mistake sent him into the wall. It was a blow for the driver from Normandy, especially as the performance of his single-seater seemed to be on target at the start of the weekend. Marked, Ocon didn't mince his words when asked about his accident.
In the heat of Bahrain, Esteban Ocon wore a closed-off expression as he exited his car. Slightly dazed but mostly clear-headed, the Frenchman did not try to dodge his share of responsibility. "I'm disappointed with my qualifying performance. I shouldn't have made that mistake," he admitted, looking serious. It was in turn 2, one of the first sequences of the circuit, that he lost control of his Haas after clipping the inside kerb. An overly optimistic trajectory that prematurely ended his session and ruined all the work done since the beginning of the weekend.
Without beating around the bush, Ocon explained what happened behind the wheel during his interview with Canal+: I tried to push a little more in turn 2 and ended up on that curb. I lost the car and hit the wall. The error was not insignificant, especially in such a crucial phase as the qualifications. In a team undergoing reconstruction like Haas, every detail counts, and every opportunity to perform well must be maximized. These are mistakes that don't usually happen to me in qualifying, insisted the driver, visibly affected by this misstep.
The tone of his voice, like the shape of his words, betrayed a broader personal disappointment. Not just that of a spoiled turn, but that of having compromised a potential result worthy of the collective effort. « I am disappointed with my performance today and I should have done better for the whole team. We've been working hard for a long time now. » Since the start of the season, Haas has struggled to regain the level of performance it aimed for. But in Sakhir, certain signs finally seemed to indicate a slight improvement. Hence this additional frustration, all the more palpable since the progress could have been reflected on the timesheet.
Esteban Ocon assures that the car had the potential to shine in qualifying. "I think we were going to have a good qualifying session this time, we were in a good position," he says with a pang of regret. Now it remains to turn this setback into a comeback by Sunday's race. The French driver still wants to believe, even if his position on the grid will force him to climb back through the field to hope to aim for points. "We'll try to do the best job possible tomorrow. It's not over yet, we're not starting so far from the points anyway," he concludes, with a hint of hope mixed with the determination of those who know that in Formula 1, nothing is ever entirely lost.
